


Fond

by blutopaz15



Series: S3 Fics [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkward, Canon Compliant, Cute, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Season 3, adoraburrs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27428524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blutopaz15/pseuds/blutopaz15
Summary: "'Thanks,' he said, wiggling his fingers once they were uncovered from underneath the first wave of adoraburrs she pulled off. She considered trying to speed up the process by brushing the burrs off in large swaths, but she decided against it, electing instead to continue slowly picking them off a handful at a time. She was a little disappointed that he seemed entirely unfazed by her nearness at the moment, but she supposed that was better than him pulling away out of embarrassment."Rayla helps Callum remove all of the adoraburrs before they leave the meadow.
Relationships: Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayllum - Relationship
Series: S3 Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018519
Comments: 28
Kudos: 95





	Fond

Laughing like this--heartily, clutching at her stomach, shoulders shaking--felt so  _ good _ . Especially laughing like this with Callum, the goofball himself, standing next to her covered head to toe in adoraburrs. Rayla wiped a tear from her eye as their chuckles died down.

“Of course they do,” Rayla answered his concern about getting all of the little creatures off. Her grin lessened into a smaller, fond smile as she stepped a little closer, holding out her hand to him. “Here,” she said, and he rotated a little so she could take a gentle hold of his right arm. She started to pluck the colorful creatures off a few at a time, dropping them back into the tall grass as she moved up from his hand to his wrist. 

“Thanks,” he said, wiggling his fingers once they were uncovered from underneath the first wave of adoraburrs she pulled off. She considered trying to speed up the process by brushing the burrs off in large swaths, but she decided against it, electing instead to continue slowly picking them off a handful at a time. She was a little disappointed that he seemed entirely unfazed by her nearness at the moment, but she supposed that was better than him pulling away out of embarrassment. “You’re so lucky that you got to grow up around all of this, Rayla,” Callum beamed, arm now de-burred up to his elbow.

“This  _ is _ one of my favorite places,” she shrugged, glancing to Zym who frolicked nearby, chasing a bug that floated through the air. “But, I have to admit...I didn’t really realize how special  _ any _ of this was before.” 

“Before leaving?” He cocked his head to the side, and a few burrs fell off to the ground around them. Her smile twitched a little wider at this, before looking back at her hands as they worked.

“Before meeting you.” She stared steadily at his shoulder where she pulled off a handful of blue burrs, nearly the same color as his jacket beneath, nervous to look up to his face to see his reaction. It was one thing to sing his praises to save him from a murderous dragon, but this was dangerous territory to wander into one-on-one. A little  _ too  _ close to admitting that her feelings were not exactly platonic. Did friends tell each other how they felt about each other? Did they look for excuses to touch each other? Certainly friends did things to make each other happy, but did they feel quite this fond of the way the other person smiled? She glanced up and felt that fondness now at his warm, sideways smile.

“Really?” He asked cheerily. He almost looked a little proud. She breathed in and screwed up the courage to step a little closer to work on clearing the burrs from his chest. Dropping more clumps of color to the ground, she let her left hand linger on his shoulder. She met his eyes now, smiling as she tried to find the words to explain how he had brightened her perspective.

“You’re just...so excited about everything. It’s…” She glanced away, hesitating before the word  _ cute _ could leave her lips. He leaned his head a little closer to her, as if trying to hear the rest of her sentence. “It’s contagious.” She pulled off some yellow adoraburrs from his scarf, and saw that expression she liked so very much still on his face. The tightening in her chest emboldened her. “...and cute,” She was a little surprised at how easily the word came out, and even more surprised at how easily she looked straight into his eyes. He looked away after what she said sank in, and, through the small window of adoraburrs around his face, she could see his cheeks growing pink. 

“Oh.” She watched his lips close into a smile as he continued to look towards the ground. He brought a hand up to where the burrs were still tangled in his hair. Reassured by the way he continued to smile and how his eyes drifted back to hers, she caught his hand and pushed it gently back down to his side.

“Let me,” she insisted, beginning to gently untangle a burr visibly wrapped up in a lock of brown hair. She watched her hands again silently, pleased that her attempt at flirting and excuse to touch him didn’t seem to put him off entirely at least.

“Th-thanks,” he stuttered, and they fell into silence for a few moments as her fingers worked more adoraburrs out of his hair. She smoothed his hair to the side as she pulled the last few off. Then, she was surprised to feel his right hand touch her hip. She glanced down and blinked at the contact. When he said her name, she looked back up to find him looking at her intensely now. “Rayla?”

“What?” She asked, glancing quickly between his steady gaze and the handful of loosely attached burrs she pulled from the other side of his neck. His left shoulder, still covered in burrs, moved upward in a small shrug as he spoke.

“I think you’re cute too.”

Face immediately scarlet, her hands froze in place when she saw a single corner of his mouth pulled upward in a lopsided smirk. Before reason could intervene--he thought she was  _ cute! _ \--backpedaling excuses flew out of her mouth.

“Oh,” she started with her own awkward shrug, adoraburrs falling to the grass from her hands. “Well, I just meant that your  _ excitement _ was cute. That’s...that’s all.” She cringed at her inexplicable impulse to minimize her feelings.

“That’s...that’s not...well, you’re, uh…” Callum stammered and looked everywhere but at her. She felt her face scrunch up at the awkwardness and she covered her eyes. He went silent for just long enough for her to peak at him between her fingers. “You’re cute all of the time.” She softened, removing her hands from her face, a little impressed at his consistency despite how she’d ruined the conversation.

“I...I guess you’re pretty cute most of the time,” she conceded, moving a little closer to the full truth again. She started to brush off the burrs from his left side now, hands running lightly down his arm. She plucked at the few that hadn’t fallen off. “But like...in a dorky way.” She smiled at him playfully, poking at his arm between the few remaining adoraburrs, and he rolled his eyes.  _ This _ was more comfortable...not nearly as heartfelt, but certainly just as flirtatious. 

“Gee, thanks,” he responded, lifting one leg and then the other, clearing the front and then the backs of his legs of the adoraburrs. She tossed the last purple burr to the ground and turned away slightly. He bent to brush the remaining adoraburrs off of his pants.

“My pleasure!” She smirked, watching him trying to shake off the burrs around his ankles. His cheeks flushed again as she stepped around to his back to help him with the last little bit. She ran her hands across his shoulder blades and then down his back.

“Hey, Rayla?” He said, peering over his shoulder back at her.

“Hmm?” He turned to her, with the “dumb idea” look in his eye. She raised an eyebrow questioningly, but couldn’t help but think how fond she was of  _ this _ face too.

“I changed my mind too...you’re not cute, you’re  _ adorable _ .” He held up a little yellow adoraburr with a huge, cheesy grin. 

“The next time something tries to kill you, I’m just going to let it happen.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I feel the need to end every fic with a lame joke, but *shrug*...gotta keep the lame dorks lame and dorky I guess.
> 
> Also, I couldn't resist riffing on the "cute dorky" bit.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed :)


End file.
